Hi, Just to fill you all in with the detail:
I am currently teaching myself Maya and MudBox by Autodesk as well as UDK (Game Engine) by Unreal Technology, I already know how to use After Effects and Photoshop.

I am still at High School UK and I am studying ICT, Computer Science and Media Studies for my A Levels (currently at AS), in my free time I enjoy drawing and doing visuals on my computer but have no actual qualification such as GCSE Art although I did do Design.

(Hope i didn't bore you :wise: )

To the point:
Im curios whether I should do a degree, as I think i should and would actually like something to show as well as a portfolio when it comes to jobs.

Does anyone know of any Universities that i could go to that are really good. I have already looked at Creative Computing at Goldsmiths in London and looked at VFS (Vancouver Film School) for a long time for diplomas.

Does anyone else know any others?
Thanks in advance :cool:

MatthewAlden

12-27-2010, 01:45 PM

http://www.gold.ac.uk/ug/bsc-creative-computing/

Does this seem like a good course, as i wish to be a Game Designer/Artist

leigh

12-27-2010, 06:04 PM

The best course for UK artists is at Bournemouth.

Darkherow

12-27-2010, 10:52 PM

I haven't taken any of the following courses but I heard info about them on the forums.

I believe that Bournemouth are famous for their post graduate programmes (Masters degrees) and not sure about their under graduate. Also the courses are the in NCCA courses that are the best.

University of Hertfordshire, I'll let Moidphotos explain since he's a lecture there and he's normally roaming about on this forum lol.

In games there's University of Teesside in Middlesborough, a Skillset accredited course.

Also while looking around I found this http://www.metfilmschool.co.uk/ not sure how good they are but best to research this.

There's the private option of taking a course run at Escape Studios that has individual courses for VFX and Games.

If you are looking abroad then in canada there's also the Lost Boys and of course in USA theres Gnomon School. Some options for you to look but best to look at their student work, their contacts and student comments.

MatthewAlden

12-29-2010, 12:47 PM

Thank you for the replies and tips :D

I will have a look :)

MatthewAlden

12-29-2010, 01:03 PM

I actually quite like the look of teesside,

What do you guys think of the foundation years as im not 100% sure of the area i want to go into, but i am certain it is games :D

Dumpduck

12-30-2010, 12:51 PM

I actually quite like the look of teesside,

What do you guys think of the foundation years as im not 100% sure of the area i want to go into, but i am certain it is games :D

At University of Hertfordshire you will be taught a little bit of everything during the first year and then you can decide which of the individual courses (2d animation, 3d animation, games art and vfx) you want to continue. I'm currently a first year student and can highly recommend the course.

I haven't attended a foundation course myself, but I would assume an extra year of learning isn't a waste ;)

MatthewAlden

12-30-2010, 09:31 PM

At University of Hertfordshire you will be taught a little bit of everything during the first year and then you can decide which of the individual courses (2d animation, 3d animation, games art and vfx) you want to continue. I'm currently a first year student and can highly recommend the course.

I haven't attended a foundation course myself, but I would assume an extra year of learning isn't a waste ;)

Thanks a lot :D Sounds perfect

MatthewAlden

12-30-2010, 09:34 PM

Hi again,

What should i look under, computing or art? Im guessing Art and Design but its on a computer and it was under computing on the Goldsmith website :rolleyes:

Thanks again for all you advise :)

moidphotos

12-31-2010, 12:43 AM

http://www.gold.ac.uk/ug/bsc-creative-computing/

Does this seem like a good course, as i wish to be a Game Designer/Artist

It might be good if you want to be a games programmer, but it doesn't look like an art course. Also are you aware that the Games Designer is a very different position to the Games Artist. A Games Designer does what it says - he designs the game - so it's a role that requires a lot of knowledge of gameplay, the ability to write vast amounts of information and also hopefully do scripting level coding to adjust levels, also draw plans and ideas that the Lead Artist can get turned into great things later on... I would be very cautious about a course that claimed to teach both the art skills that a Games Artist needs and the design skills of a Game Designer.

None of the game designers I've ever worked with studied the subject at university - they did mostly have degrees, but usually in something completely unrelated to games :) They all got into the job by making Mods / levels for games and getting them online and impressing a lot of people and then were contacted directly by companies and got into Games Design that way. I've also seen people start off as game testers, work up to level design and then progress to game design, but that's a long hard route...

For more of a list of places to apply you could consult Skillset (http://www.skillset.org/games/)

Some nice people have already recommended one of the courses I teach on, so I won't say anymore about them :)

Another place for information is the Computer Animation thread on The Student Rooms
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=301364&page=79

Regarding a foundation year - do you mean an Art Foundation (one year) course? - if so, you may need this to get entrance to an animation course, because you will probably need to show a portfolio of both digital and traditional art.

Games Art can usually be found as part of Animation, Multimedia or Computer Science schools in most universities.

MatthewAlden

12-31-2010, 10:55 AM

It might be good if you want to be a games programmer, but it doesn't look like an art course. Also are you aware that the Games Designer is a very different position to the Games Artist. A Games Designer does what it says - he designs the game - so it's a role that requires a lot of knowledge of gameplay, the ability to write vast amounts of information and also hopefully do scripting level coding to adjust levels, also draw plans and ideas that the Lead Artist can get turned into great things later on... I would be very cautious about a course that claimed to teach both the art skills that a Games Artist needs and the design skills of a Game Designer.

None of the game designers I've ever worked with studied the subject at university - they did mostly have degrees, but usually in something completely unrelated to games :) They all got into the job by making Mods / levels for games and getting them online and impressing a lot of people and then were contacted directly by companies and got into Games Design that way. I've also seen people start off as game testers, work up to level design and then progress to game design, but that's a long hard route...

For more of a list of places to apply you could consult Skillset (http://www.skillset.org/games/)

Some nice people have already recommended one of the courses I teach on, so I won't say anymore about them :)

Another place for information is the Computer Animation thread on The Student Rooms
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=301364&page=79

Regarding a foundation year - do you mean an Art Foundation (one year) course? - if so, you may need this to get entrance to an animation course, because you will probably need to show a portfolio of both digital and traditional art.

Games Art can usually be found as part of Animation, Multimedia or Computer Science schools in most universities.

Thanks for straightening it out,

Im not to sure what it is i want to do, I have always made sketches of levels and characters, and i currently make games with UDK. I have just sstarted learning Maya and Mudbox to make my own content. I guess i will keep on learning the software and see what i most like and then go into that, Thanks again for the information.

I was worried that the goldsmiths one would be more programming since it was in the computing section.

CGTalk Moderation

12-31-2010, 10:55 AM

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.